Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentleman from Florida for yielding. I think it is important that we review the history of Federal employee pay freezes. In the last Congress, this came up under a Democrat-controlled House, a Democrat-controlled Senate, and a Democrat President. They voted for a 2-year payroll freeze for Federal employees. They rightly excluded our military, and I think everyone in this House agrees that our military should get a pay increase. But who they wrongly failed to include in the pay freeze were Members of Congress. They didn't include Members of Congress, but every other Federal worker they did include. So now, today, I've brought a bill to the floor to extend the pay freeze for one more year. My bill is the exact same bill as the Democrats' bill from 2 years ago. The only difference is that I've carved in Members of Congress. Every Member in this House will have his pay frozen just like every other Federal worker's. That is the right thing to do. That's what should have been done 2 years ago but was not done. I was here to listen to the gentleman from Maryland, the former majority leader, who is outraged that he doesn't have an opportunity to singly vote for a pay freeze for Members of Congress. Yet, as the majority leader, he had the opportunity to include Members of Congress in his bill. Republicans didn't have a say. It was a Democrat House, a Democrat Senate, a Democrat President, and Members of Congress were not included.…”